Can I Be Happy Too?
by summaluv14
Summary: Damon talks to Ric about his feelings for Elena. Little does he know shes listening in on the whole thing. Originally one-shot but I'm adding chapters! As always, DELENA!
1. Can I Be Happy Too?

_**Hey everybody! I was thinking about Damon and Elena and this idea just popped into my head. It's 3:30 in the morning and I'm not fully awake so don't hate! Hey I rhymed! :)**_

Damon watches Elena as she scurries about the house, gathering her things to leave. He smiles at her when she hops around, trying to put her shoes on and find her keys at the same time. After she seems to collect the needed items to head over to Caroline's house, she looks around, making sure she has everything. She closes her eyes as she mentally checks her list of items and smiles when she finds she has everything she needs. She turns around and sees Damon smiling at her and she smiles back.

"I got to go. Bye, Damon, I'll see you at your house later." She turns to leave, walking out the door and she adds, "Bye Alaric!" It's silent in the kitchen where Damon and Alaric are currently standing in for a few moments. Alaric clears his throat akwardly. Damon's still smiling at the door in which Elena exited several moments ago.

"Damon?" Alaric asks worriedly.

"Sorry, what were we talking about?" Damon snaps out of his Elena-enduced trance and turns back towards his friend.

Alaric sighs loudly. "Damon, you see that girl you just drooled over? Yeah, she's your brother's girlfriend!"

"Since when do you care?" Damon asked, trying to sound angry and menacing, but not really succeding.

"Since number five of her parents died and I realized that technically I am her step dad."

"And it's your duty as step dad to...what exactly? Protect her? Trust me, she's seen worse than me."

"I've accepted that I can't protect her from everything. Including you. I'm just saying that she doesn't need the added weight of your undying love for her when all this other crap is happening." Damon rolls his eyes.

"Undying love? Really? Are you trying to piss me off?"

"You know I'm not. And you know that what I'm saying makes sense too, even if you don't want to admit it."

"Just shut up already, would you? You don't get it, Ric. I-" Damon sighs loudly and sadly.

"What Damon? Don't try to justify hitting on your brother's girlfriend while he's away paying for the blood that saved your life. There is no justifying that."

"I know! I'm not trying to hit on her or justify anything! I don't want to have these feeling for her! I've been trying to surpress them, trying to do the right thing, but it just gets tiring after a while."

"Please say something to make me think you're a better person. Say something to make me remember why I'm friends with you. Because most of what you're saying right now just makes me want to start a fight I know I can't win." Alaric deadpanned. Damon glared momentarily at him, but his face softened after a while.

"I've been trying to let her be with Stefan. Only because she's genuinely happy with him, and I _know_ he's the better man. I've been doing it because I just want her to be happy. That's what I want more than anything."

"Well then why don't you just let her?"

"I've been trying! God knows I've been trying! I want her to be happy, Ric, I really do, but...but is it too much to ask to be happy too? And I just know I can't be happy without her. So where does that leave me?"

"In a screwed situation, buddy." Ric answered with a pat on the back. Damon just gave him an amused and annoyed look.

"You are the worst friend ever." Damon told him, shaking his head and chuckling at the same time.

"Are you sure about that? You did turn my wife into a vampire. And you killed me. God, I almost forgot you killed me!" Damon threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"For the last time! There is a fine line between 'killing you' and 'killing you to have you come back to life'!" Alaric and Damon continued to bicker over Ric's death while Elena, who had heard everything, stood frozen outsie the front door. The only thing she could think of at the moment was, 'Thanks god I forgot my purse.'

_**How'd you like it? If it sucks, I'm sorry. It's four in the morning and I'm fried. I just had to get this out for ya'll! Review please, this is my first attempt at a one-shot and I'd really like to know if it's good!**_


	2. I Love Damon Salvatore

_**One review. All it took was one was review from **_**aj81writing**_** suggesting that I turn this one-shot into a story and here I am. I just can't say no to you guys! The story will not be very long, maybe 3-6 chapters? I oficially have three stories going on right now. Cut me some slack if one of them is delayed. :)**_

Elena was still frozen outside the door. She needed to get to Caroline's. But she didn't have her purse. Her purse was inside the house. Alaric and Damon were inside the house. Damon just basically admitted to Alaric that he loved Elena. Elena heard the whole damn thing.

Elena's thoughts came in short, simple sentences. Right now her brain couldn't handle any more than that. It already felt like it was going to explode. She stood there for a couple more seconds before she finallt started to think logically. She tiptoed backwards, not wanting to alarm Damon's super sensitive ears. She was making goof progress when her keys slipped from her fingers. She could har the silence in the kitchen, telling her that both Damon and Alaric had heard her sorry attempt at retreat.

She just gave up and booked it to her car, forgeting about her purse. She fumbled to unlock the doors when she finally reached the car and she thought that she might just be being ridiculous. It wasn't like Damon was going to come out here and attack her. She actually favored that over what he would actually do. He would make some witty remark, covering the last five minutes with a lie. A bad lie.

And Elena didn't know if she wanted the last five minutes to go away. _Whoa, stop right there, _Elena thought to herself. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but she needed someone to talk to. And she was already on her way to Caroline's...

Elena pounded on Caroline's front door. She watched as her best friend came around the corner and opened the door for Elena. Elena bursted through the door as soon as it was opened, not even stopping to greet her friend.

"Jeez, what's gotton into you?" Caroline teased. But this was no teasing manner, this was serious crap.

"I just overheard Damon talking to Alaric...about me." Elena whispered panicky.

"Okay. Let me guess, he professed his undying love for you to Ric?"

"What? No!" Elena couldn't help but remember Ric saying a similar thing to Damon. Crap. That five minutes were invading her brain. "Well, yeah. But, Care, he was, Damon was, so..." She trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Amazingly sweet?" Caroline tried to fill in the blanks in Elena's sentence.

"Yeah." Elena agreeded in disbelief. "Since when does that happen?"

"Since he fell in love with you." Caroline snorted obviously.

"C'mon, Care, he's not in love with me." Elena tried to deny it, but she knew Caroline was right.

"You c'mon, Elena! I know that you know he's in love with you. Everyone knows he's in love with you. Why can't you just admit it?" Caroline demanded, getting a little tired of this denying game.

"Because I don't want it to be true!" Elena cried. "It just makes everything the more harder and confusing."

"Whoa, wait. You're confused about what? Your feelings for Damon?" Caroline questioned, this was getting intresting.

Elena thought about it for a long moment before she responded. "No, I'm not confused about my feelings for Damon. I know that I love him. I love Damon Salvatore." Elena whispered the last part but she knew Caroline heard.

"Holy shit."

"I know, right?"

"What the hell did he say to make you realize that?"

"He said that he wanted me to be happy. More than anything he wanted me to be happy. And he saw that I was happy with Stefan, so he tried to let us be. But then, then, he asked Alaric if it was so bad to wish for him to be happy too. He said that he couldn't be happy without me."

"Damn, that boy is deep when he means it." Caroline said in awe. Elena just nodded her head in agreement. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to tell him." Elena sighed. "I have to, right?"

"Damn straight you do. Go!" Caroline was already pushing Elena towards the door.

"What? Now?" Elena yelled, frantic at the thought of telling Damon how she really felt.

"Elena! He's been loving you from afar since like, forever! You have to go tell him now!"

"You're right! I have to go tell him!" Elena cried with new found courage. Elena smiled big at Caroline before she left through the front door. She ran to her car and speeded towards the boarding house. _I love Damon Salvatore. _Elena thought to herself. The idea frightened her to death and excited her at the same time.

_**So, here's the second chapter to my supposed-to-be-oneshot. Hope you guys liked it! :)**_

_**Reviews=Love**_


	3. All Of The Above

_**Lots and losts of alerts and favorites for this stroy but no reviews! C'mon guys, you can do better than that! I BELIEVE in you! (lol) Anyway, chapter three is here! Hope ya love it!**_

Shit. Five seconds ago I heard her keys drop. Five seconds ago my ears heard what they had been ingnoring for the last five _minutes._ Her hearbeat. Her increasingly heavy breath as she listened in on my conversation with Alaric.

I froze as soon as I heard the keys hit the ground, so did she. Ric didn't freeze, but he shut up, knowing something was up when I stopped mid-sentence. I heard her pick up her keys and run away, but I just let her. She knew that I knew she was there. She knew that I hadn't meant for her to hear any of the things I had just confided in Ric. But most importantly, she _knew._ She knew what I felt for her, she knew that I cared for her, loved her. And all I could think was, _shit._

After five minutes of me staring at the tiled kitchen floor with wide eyes, Ric broke the silence. "What the hell just happened?" He asked me. I had almost forgotten that Ric wasn't a vampire. That he couldn't have picked up on the quiet sound of Elena's keys dropping, let alone noticed the importance of the tiny litle noise. Scratch that, I hadn't forgotton that Ric wasn't a vampire, I had simply forgotton I _was_ one. The last few minutes of conversation had seemed perfectly normal. I was a guy who was in love with a girl he could never have. How human of that was me?

"Elena just happened. She was outside the whole time. She heard everything." I told him, my voice calm despite the wreck I was inside.

"Shit." He said simply. I was reminded why I was friends with the guy, he took the words right out of my mind. We were silent for a couple more moments before he spoke again. "What are you going to do?" I don't know why, but then I just had the strangest feeling that somewhere, someone was being asked the exact same question as me. I seriously felt for them if they were in a situation half as crazy as I was.

I sat up, about to leave. As I was shrugging on my leather jacket, I finally answered Ric. "I'm going to do what I always do."

"Let's see, that narrows it down. So are you going to get drunk, kill someone, piss someone off, hide your feelings, or do something stupid?" Only he could ask me something like this without getting knocked out. Well, him and Elena of course.

"Um, I'm going to go with all of the above." I remarked before I walked out the door without so much as a friendly goodbye. I didn't have time for that now. I had to go face the love of my extremely long life.

_**Short chapter, I know. Next chapter will be Elena confronting Damon about what he said. Should get intresting! **_

_**Review and make me happier than Damon was when Elena kissed him!**_


	4. Checking Off The List

Damon sighed as he walked through the front door of the boarding house. Elena wasn't here, yet. He walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of bourban. He downed several glasses before he heard the familar heartbeat at the doorway. "Elena," Damon greeted her without turning around.

"Damon, we need to talk." She said simply as she walked into the room.

"What do we need to talk about?" Damon asked her before he turned to face her and rose another glass of strong alchohol to his lips.

"You know what we need to talk about, Damon." Elena replied, starting to get frustrated. When Damon just raised his eyebrows and said nothing, Elena continued with a glare. "We need to talk about how you're in love with me." Damon pretended to cough up his drink with mock surprise.

"Why, Elena, whatever makes you think I'm in love with you?" He sounded so innocent, Elena wanted to slap him.

"Dammit, Damon! I heard what you said to Alaric. About my happiness, your happiness? I heard everything!" She nearly screamed at him.

"Oh, that! Oh, that was nothing, Elena." Damon tried to dismiss it with a wave of his hand.

"Nothing?" Elena replied through gritted teeth. She felt have infuriated, half depressed with the thought that Damon really hadn't meant what he said.

"Yupp." He replied, popping the 'p' so nonchalantly, Elena felt the urge to hit him again. "That was just some messing around with a friend." Elena's heart sunk deep into her chest.

"So, you're saying it was a joke?" She said quietly, trying to urge the growing water back into her eyes. Damon tilted his head, looking at her. Elena thought she saw a glimmer of sadness in his eyes, but it was quickly gone, making her think she was seeing things. His eyes now held something far worse, pity.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said simply. Elena's heart felt like it was breaking in two. What a sick, cruel, joke. She felt her eyes starting to spill over with tears she could no longer hold back. She tried to smile, but she felt that it probably came out looking more like a grimace.

"Oh. That's what I thought too." She said, her voice shakey. She wiped the tears off her face and took a deep breath. "Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. I should be going." She pointed her thumb towards the door and turned around to walk towards it.

"Elena..." Damon called after her. She turned around slowly, barely keeping herself together now.

"Yeah?" She asked halfheartedly. She could already feel the next round of tears coming on and she wanted to get out of here before that happened.

"I'm sorry, if you thought I was serious." He told her. The pity in his voice is what hurt her most of all, because it proved that he really felt nothing for her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine." She said just as tears overflowed her eyes once again, disproving what she had just said. She nodded her head, her face crumbling. She turned to leave again, and this time he didn't stop her.

**~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~**

Elena nearly sprinted down the driveway to her car as soon as she was out the door. She felt so completely mortified. Depressed. Furious.

How could this have happened? She had been so sure that he was in love with her. She always took confort in that fact. No matter what crazy crap was going on in her life, she always clung to the thought that Damon loved her. When she was being chased by murderous vampires, protecting her family and friends, or even when she just flat out let everybody down. She always thought that at least Damon would always love her.

The fact that maybe she had been wrong all along scared her to death. And when he looked at her, spoke to her, pity deep in all his actions, she felt all the more stupid. And when she thought, 'I'm the one who's supposed to pity him', she felt like a total monster. What kind of person would think a thought like that? Probably one who had been so self-absorbed that she imagined her boyfriend's brother was in love with her.

But Damon had said the words to her. He had told her he loved her as he had layed there dying. She hadn't made that up. Was it possible that he had noticed her love for him before she had? Maybe he had, maybe he saw that the only way she was going to move on was if she knew he loved her. Or thought he loved her. The only other option was that Damon had been lying when he said he was joking. But why on earth would he say that? He had clearly saw how distressed she was by his proclamation. He had to know she had feelings for him too. So if he was in love with her, why would he break her when she tried to tell him she loved him too?

**~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~**

Damon stared at the spot Elena had just vacated in his living room. His mind was working a million thoughts a second. And surprise, surprise, they all centered around Elena.

He couldn't help but notice that he had done nearly all the things Alaric had said he would. Get drunk? Check, he thought as he pured himself yet another glass of bourban. Piss someone off? By the way Elena was screaming at him? Check! Hide his feelings? Damon laughed at that one. Check, check! He didn't kill anybody and he hadn't done anything too stupid. He took pride in not completing the whole damn list.

What he couldn't figure was why she had seemed so sad, He expected anything but that from her. Relief, that he didn't feel that way about her. Anger, that he would make such a cruel joke. Frustration, if she saw through his lies. But sadness, she had no reason to be sad. Unless, unless she loved him too?

Oh crap, he might have to check 'do something stupid' off the list.

_**Wow, this chapter came out of nowhere, I swear! I had thought this was going to be the last one, but obviously, that plan failed. I guess this thing is going to be longer than I thought. Until next chapter, my friends!**_

_**Review and make me happier than we'll all be when September rolls around!**_


	5. The Fallout

Damon paced his room, trying to decide what to do. He could go after Elena, tell her he had meant every word he said to Alaric. But, what if he was wrong? What if she wasn't in love with him? If he took back what he said, and she still didn't love him, he couldn't very well take back his take back.

But what if she did love him?

The very thought sent Damon's mind into a whirlwind. There was a very good posibility that she was in love with him. That meant that everything Damon had dreamed since he met her could come true. That meant that he could finally love her like he was never allowed to and how Stefan never could.

Stefan! Damon had nearly forgotton about his lost little brother. He tried to, heck he wanted to forget about Elena for a second and focus on finding his brother, but he just couldn't seem to do it. Elena had become a huge part of his life, if not, all of it.

**~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~~DAMON&ELENA~**

Elena paced her room, trying to decide what to do. She could go after Damon, tell him all the things she always knew in her heart but refused to admit to everyone, including herself. But what if she was wrong? What if he had fallen out of love with her, or worst, was never in love with her at all? If she told him she loved him and then found that he didn't love her in return, she couldn't very well take back something like that.

But what if he did love her that way she always suspected?

The very thought sent Elena's mind into a jumbled mess. All thoughts of course, revolving around Damon. There was a good chance that Damon really _did _love Elena. That meant that she could dream of a whole new future with him. Hell, if we were being honest, she already had dreamed that future long ago. Maybe she could finally love someone like she never could with Stefan. Maybe she could finally be loved like Stefan never could.

Stefan! Elena had nearly forgotton about her lost boyfriend. She had to focus on saving him! She had to turn her attention away from Damon, her boyfriend's brother, and back to her actual boyfriend. With a sigh, she plopped back down on her bed and tried to clear her mind of all things Damon Salvatore-related. She almost laughed when it worked and her mind was just a white blank. She finally realized that Damon Salvatore was her life, whether she liked it or not.

_**I know it's another short chapter, but I promise I'll post soon. If not tomorrow, another chapter today! Did you guys like how I made Elena's and Damon's thoughts similar? I wanted to show that even though they are completely different people, they share a deeper connection. Even just by the way they look at things. Next chapter is the last!**_


	6. Extraordinary Together

_**Last chapter! It's been fun guys! I hope you guys loved this story as much as I loved writing it! As promised, Damon and Elena get thier happy ending.**_

Damon was lying in his bed when Elena came barging through the door. Damon jumped off his bed in surprise and looked at a determined Elena with wide and wary eyes. As soon as she saw him, Elena seemed to lose the majority of her determination and bravery. She started to pace the room, looking down and mumbling things to herself.

"Elena?" Damon asked somewhat catiously. Elena held her hand up and stopped pacing. She looked up at Damon with sad eyes.

"Sorry, I just needed a minute to work up the courage to tell you what I need to." She spoke clearly and confidently. Damon's eyebrows scrunched up together and he tilted his head, trying to figure her out.

"Elena," He started.

"No. Just let me finish, okay? Before I lose whatever tiny amount of guts I have left." Damon responded only with a nodd and Elena took that as a sign for her to continue. "I, I heard what you said to Alaric. And when I was listening in on that conversation I wasn't mad or shocked or sad. I was so incredibly happy!" Her voice cracked a little at the end but Damon remained silent. "And then, when you told me that it was all a joke, I was devastated. And when I started to think about it, it didn't make sense."

"What didn't make sense?" Damon asked, even though he knew all too well what didn't make sense.

"You not loving me! And it's not because I think I'm this great catch, it's because I know that you do. All this time, all these moments spent together has led me to know you better than anyone. And as that person, I refuse to believe that you are incapable of loving me." Silent tears started to stream down her face as Elena's voice grew louder and more aggrivated. "I understand if you're scared. I'm scared out of my mind! I mean, I've hurt you so much, but, by some miracle, you're still here. We're still standing here!" She smiles sadly and shakes her head quickly, trying to make him understand.

"What are you trying to say, Elena?" Damon finds himself asking her. He thinks he knows what she's getting at, but he refuses to even consider it before the words come out of her mouth.

"I love you!" She cried. "And I believe that we can be extraordinary together, rather than ordinary apart."

Damon just looks at her for a long moment. He thinks to himself that she has gotton even more beautiful since those three words came out of her mouth, if that's possible. He walks over to her and cups her face inbetween his hands. Tears are springing out of his own eyes now, too.

"I love you too." He says before he pulls her in for a long kiss. It's the kiss of dreams, but better. It's full of heartache, loss, and most of all, love.

_**Okay, cheesey ending, but whatever, I'm a sucker for a happily ever after. REVIEW if you liked this story. Feel free to send me ideas for new stories, too! (Follow me on twitter at **_KylieLovesTVD _**)**_

_**And remember, I love you ALL for reading this through to the end. DELENAS FOREVER!**_


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